What is a balance transfer?

With all your balances in one place, your outgoings could be easier to manage.

 

Why is a balance transfer useful?

With a balance transfer, you’re moving existing credit or store card balances to another credit card with a different provider. That could help you to:

  • Keep track of your borrowing
    Moving credit and selected store card balances onto a single credit card could make life easier, with one balance to manage and one payment to make each month.
  • Benefit from introductory or promotional interest rates
    By transferring higher interest balances to a credit card offering lower interest rates, you could reduce the overall cost of your borrowing.

Balance transfers in more detail

Can I transfer?

Can I transfer?

  • You can’t transfer from all cards – it’s not possible to transfer balances between cards issued by the same provider, for example, you can’t move balances between two Bank of Scotland credit cards. You can only transfer balance from store cards featuring the Mastercard®, American Express® or Visa® logo.
  • £100 is the minimum transfer amount. The maximum balance transfer amount is 93% of your credit limit, which allows for potential fees and any in-flight transactions which have yet to reach your account.

Things to check

Things to check

  • Check the transfer rate – most people transfer balances while there are introductory or promotional interest rates available, although you can transfer a balance at the standard interest rate too.
  • Transfer fees might apply – balance transfer fees are usually a percentage of the transfer amount, and apply to each individual transfer. Remember to account for these when weighing up your options.
  • If you’ve already taken out a promotional offer - before you apply for a new offer, it’s always worth checking which one you’ll be paying off first. Find out more about balances and what your payments go towards
  • Transfers are subject to security checks, so they’re not guaranteed.

Here’s an example of a transfer in action

Just for the purposes of this example, imagine you have a credit card offering 0% on balance transfers for 12 months, and you have no other balances on the card.

  1. You have a balance of £2,000 on one credit card, with an interest rate of 20%.
  2. You have another credit card offering 0% interest for 12 months on balance transfers, with a 1% transfer fee.
  3. You make a transfer request for £2,000, which is approved. That increases the outstanding balance on the credit card you’re transferring to by £2,020, which includes the 1% transfer fee.
  4. If you pay £202 on time every month, and you don’t use your card to make any other purchases, you could clear your balance within 10 months without paying any interest. Bear in mind, if you only make the minimum payment shown on your statement each month, it’ll take longer and cost more to repay anything you borrow.
  5. Just bear in mind that the standard interest rate will apply to any remaining balance when the promotional period ends.

Remember:

If you have more than one balance transfer, the one with the highest interest rate will be paid off first. 

  • If they have the same interest rates, balances will be paid off in the order you took them out.
  • They won’t be paid off based on which offer ends first.

Find out more about balances and what your payments go towards

Making the most of a balance transfer

Before you transfer, remember to check all fees and interest rates, just to make sure a balance transfer is the right option for you.

Continue to make any payments to your existing provider, just until your transfer shows as complete on both accounts.

Payments will be made towards the balances with the highest interest rate first:

  • For balances with the same interest rate, cash transactions and card purchases will be paid off first, before any balance transfers you have made. 
  • If you have more than one promotional offer at the same rate, they will be paid off in the order you took them out. They won’t be paid off based on which offer ends first. 

Find out more about balances and what your payments go towards

When your promotional rate is coming to an end, we’ll make sure to let you know in plenty of time. We’ll then charge your standard variable interest rate on any balances left after this. You can find this rate on your monthly statement.

If you pay late or miss a payment, you may have to pay fees, lose any promotional offers you have, and it could damage your credit score.

Promotional interest rates won’t apply to all transactions. So, you need to understand how using a balance transfer credit card for other things could affect the cost of borrowing and time to repay.

To request a balance transfer

Existing Bank of Scotland customers

You can request a balance transfer in a number of ways:

 

What you’ll need:

  • The details of the card you want to transfer from, including the total balance.
  • If applying online, you’ll need your Internet Banking login details.
  • A phone – you might need to complete a quick automated security check .

Make sure we’ve got your up-to-date contact details in case we need to get in touch.

Not a customer

If you’re looking for a new Bank of Scotland credit card to transfer balances to, use One Check to find cards you’re eligible to apply for, and to see your estimated credit limit.

 

Check your eligibility

 

Balance transfer cards

Frequently asked transfer questions